Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler OT: Waaaaaaaaaaaayyyy off topic...

Normally I wouldn't think of posting something like this here, but this is so funny I almost spit out my coffee. My sincere apologies in advance to anyone who might take offense, but this is precisely the sort of thing that makes the rest of the country think Southerners are a bunch of inbred imbeciles. Paragraph #6 is priceless.

CNN story

I think creationism vs evolution is going to be a new hot topic.
And, while I have been one of the first "yankee" folks to poke fun at the south (in the past, not now), it's not just the south that is doing this. I recall reading recently that something like this occured in Michigan or perhaps Wisconson.

There is also this article about some folks in Indiana. They want to rename route 69 to be less 'dirty'.

james r

Unbelievable. It would almost be funny if it wasn't so scary. People are actually devoting considerable time and thought to this sort of thing...

I'll be giggling all day after reading those two articles. Welcome to "Jesusland".

If they want that sticker to say on school textbooks, I think they have to have the corresponding sticker placed on bibles in their churches:

"This Bible contains material on God and faith. The existence of God is a theory, not a fact. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered."

I mean, if the churches expect to have influence over the material that is taught in schools, then they should be willing to accept influence from outside, as well. It's only fair.

About the interstate, they should be only be given two choices: It'll either stay 69, or they can change it to 666.

I love it. Of course, they should also do that with other holy books... And allow teaching of other creation stories along with the Judeo-Christian one(s)!

Great idea Peter!

I can see this thread getting waaaaaaaaaayyy out of hand. Everyone here has there own beliefs and faiths about politics and religion, of whitch none should be ridiculed on a SPEAKER message board.

i like that very much peter.. great idea..

i will steal the tag-line from my wifes e-mail... she decided it was appropriate after 12 weeks of student teaching biology to 10th and 11th graders.

"We already have enough youths, how about a fountain of smart."

i dont know where she got it from, but its priceless...

bigjohn

The Jimmy Kimmel "Jesus Horse" line was priceless-I was holding one of my 6-month old boys on my lap while eating a bowl of ice cream. I blew ice cream down the poor little guys pajama neck. Woke him up good.

When will these people give up? Biology teachers teach science. Creationism is not a science, whereas evolution is a scientific theory. End of story.

In reply to:

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About the interstate, they should be only be given two choices: It'll either stay 69, or they can change it to 666.

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You little devil, you.

bray,

I am not ridiculing anyone's personal beliefs. Even the most religious people must realize the nature of their beliefs. Faith, by definition, is a belief/trust in something that is beyond certifiability. If something can be proven, it is no longer a matter of faith.

Because of that simple fact, faith has ABSOLUTELY NO PLACE in scientific learning. It is the job of the church and the parents to teach their children about faith and the Bible.

I think we're talking about a small percentage of Christians who could be classified as "Biblical literalists".
Apparently that school of thought believes the Bible implicitly states the world to be only 5000 years old. Obviously, that is not true. The story of Noah obviously cannot be true, either.
There is always a way for people of faith to reconcile evolution science with their faith, but not if they insist every word of the Bible is absolute truth.
That they react so strongly, and consistently, against science is more an indication of their weak faith than a lack of intelligence, IMO.

Well said. It's a pity they're so loud.

On the other hand, I think it's fascinating to discover to what degree (if any!) those stories are true.

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with any of the views stated here, only because I dont believe this is the correct forum for politics or religion. I just dont want to see flames flying because of a topic that has no relivance to H/T.
That being said, you guys carry on the way you see fit,
and remember........................

well, at least it's marked...

However.......................................
I find it to be of great entertainment when flames start flying over a good H/T topic; especially when there is an EXTREMELY well placed poll.
(Peter)

Well, so far I see no flames. I hope it'll stay that way.

where's my flint?....

bigjohn

Ok, fine. The tinder has been layed. Just keep John's steel away from your flint, if you've got any.

Here is an article from Wired about this topic.

Don't mind my hands waving, that's just me fanning the flames.

jr

Let's think about this for a min. In most of these type of issues it's some house wife that has her panties in a wad. Sorry labies. I can just see some 250# "Southern Bell" standing up for her childrens rights to think that a really big dog baried a really big bone in New Mexico and those crazy "scientists" came up with a crazed theory called evolution.

Jesus's horsed, classic.

OK....I'll tee one up for you guys. I presently am a resident of Cobb County Georgia. Give it to me!

Nope...can't give you guys that one long enough to abuse me. I'm a transplanted New Hampshire boy that experiences a ten or so degree changed in temp when I walk through the church doors.

Truthfully, I continually rant about this kind of crap. Coming from the North, this kind of garbage is what feeds the neverending stereotypes....that and the toothless wonders that they purposely find to interview for their stories. The rest of the US is always going to think that the South lives in the dark ages as long as they continue to vote good old boy rednecks into office that allow this type of stuff to take place.

Oh...the things we do to pay lower taxes (Cobb is lower than neighboring counties). It's the part of the South that I loath, but have to accept as a part of the South. The positive side is that it is not the norm....It's just the crap that gets on the news.

Peter - I love your idea for Bible stickers!

It was NOT my intention to turn this into some overblown, inflammatory thread that goes on for 200 pages. I just thought Jimmy Fallon's joke was funny.

I finally settled in Nashville after ten years in Alabama. And I really do love the South. I've been all over the world, and the fact is that Nashville is a terrific town. It's big enough to be cosmopolitan, but small enough that I don't feel the overwhelming need to take a hostage every day on the drive to work. I don't know how you can deal with living in Atlanta.

Stereotypes are stereotypes because there's a certain element of truth to them. But the Northerners I know usually make me laugh, too. I can find plenty of examples of locals and dislocated folks from other parts of the country who are equally incoherent, unintelligible, bigoted oxygen thieves. But it's the fanaticism that I find the most frightening, and my guess is that it's probably centered here in the South and in the Midwest. The Southern Nazi...I mean Baptist...the Southern Baptist Convention is based here in Nashville, and some of these people are just insane. Faith can be a remarkable thing, but reason often gets short shrift and that's probably what most concerns me. And that applies to ANY religion or belief system.

I don't think that there is any flaming going on here so no worries. Once anyone sees the "OT" in the heading thread they should know that almost anything can be discussed (within reason). That is why I love this forum, there is a ton of tech stuff but it also is a community where I feel I can talk about anything with you guys....well almost anything....there was that time that Streem Speakers was brought up....what fond memories....Classic line of that thread, "When taking a piss, think Streem."

Mike
You say you didnt mean this to be an inflammmatory thread, yet you in not so many words turn around and compare Sothern Baptists to Nazis and insane people. I find this very inflamatoty, and written out of ignorance; unless you know every Southern Baptist personally. By making your remarks I'm sure you have offended some very fine members of this message board.
Is this your intention?
If not, please be more careful of how you word your beliefs. Some may find them incoherent, unintelligible and bigoted.

You're absolutely right, Bray, and I apologize. I obviously don't know every Baptist personally, so it is unfair and prejudiced to make that kind of sweeping generalization. Your criticisms are dead on, and I was out of line.

In my defense (if there's one to be made), I said "some of these people". My joke about the SBC has much more to do with how they present themselves as an organization, and nothing at all to do with some of the wonderful people I know personally, or any of the thousands of other Baptists who are well-adjusted, decent, spiritual people in this country.

The title of Your post should have been: Waaaaaaaaaaaaaayyy
out of line.
This is undoubtedly, the worst thread I've seen here.
I never thought I would live to see the day when Christ, and Christians, would be "openly mocked", by people from this country.
I"m sad to say many of You have "cast yourselves in an unfavorable light".

LT61,

Please don't take anything said here as a personal insult. There's more than one flavor of Christian represented here on this board. I hope you're not implying that there are "true" Christians and "non-true" Christians. THAT would be waaaaaaaaaay out of line.

Christ had nothing to say about evolution, by the way.

I think that it is time to slowly walk away from this thread.

I think LT is right - this thread has been an ugly, bigoted, insulting orgy against southerners and Baptists. Pretty tasteless and ignorant.

My southern relatives (Missionary Baptists, btw) are all kind and gracious, especially so when compared to the members throwing bombs here. Ditto for the extended family of my late father-in-law. Very kind and polite people.

I'm not religous, but I do know a bit about the Missionary Baptists (I think the southern Baptists are more of a "singin' and hollerin'" group of people, right?). Missionary Baptists can be pretty severe, especially when it comes to sin and vice, but I do respect the spartan nature of their churches, the focus on faith rather than dogma, their focus on scripture rather than symbols, and the autonomy that each church enjoys. There is no hierarchical organizational structure as in many other churches.

In any case, if you feel threatened by a perceived incursion of religion into gov't and politics, you should be most wary of large, powerful organizations like the Catholic Church. Bizarre stories of extremist individuals make headlines, but will have zero impact on policy. Organized special interest groups frequently do, however.

I have to agree...this thread has indeed gone awry, as expected.

In looking back on my post, I may have come off as blasting the South. I apologize for that. I truly love living down here. In fact, my intent was to make the point that the South is not what it is perceived to be by those in other regions. I came to the South for grad school to explore this for myself. What I found was that there are indeed stereotypical people and events that do take place. However, this can be said of all regions. The frustration I displayed is based upon the fact that the only face that the media shows of the South is the "bigotted, bible-beating , redneck" stereotypical one. What you don't see is beautiful metropolitan areas like Atlanta and rural areas like Savannah (Yes, I know that there's plenty more to the South). What you don't see is the the fact that people don't have perpetual scowls and the lack of manners that you may find in some areas up North (Yes, I can say that having come from there). You don't see any of this....you just see what they think Northerners want to see and that's a shame.

My frustration with the South (as displayed earlier) is that it continues to fuel those stereotypes with this continual onslaught of church and state incursions. I understand where they are coming from, but I'm not sure they understand what it looks likes from the outside.....or they just don't care.

Again, I apologize for my tone in my earlier post. It's amazing what you see when your revisit your own words in a different time/context.

Route 666 has already been changed.

Don't you feel better knowing we don't have to worry about that?